AN ORGANIST REMINISCES

An Organist Reminisces
By James M. Guinn
From Proud Heritage, Vol 3 by DCPA. This 352 page hardcover book is available online.

Several of Dallas’ historic churches have in common pipe organs by the same builder. The firm of Henry Pilcher’s Sons of Louisville, Kentucky, provided quality instruments from well back in the nine-teenth century until the onset of World War II. They did not resume business after the end of that War. The representative of the firm in this area was Edward C. Haury, who was highly regarded by Dal-las organists as a technician and as a gentleman.

Two of the earliest Pilcher organs in Dallas were built for the Church of the Incarnation when it was at McKinney Avenue and Harwood Street, and for the 1904 building of Gaston Avenue Baptist Church. The Incarnation organ was moved to 3966 McKinney and rebuilt. It served until it was re-placed by an Aeolian-Skinner organ and then was sold to a church in Fort Worth. The Gaston Avenue organ was sold after the church had a new Wicks organ installed in its 1950 building. The Gaston Avenue buildings are now the home of Criswell Col-lege. Some well-known organists at Incarnation were Hugh Waddill, Dora Poteet (Barclay), and Russell Brydon. Mrs. Walter (Gertrude) Alexander played the Pilcher at Gaston Avenue Baptist Church.

The organ at Oak Cliff Methodist Church has been of special interest to me because it is the first pipe organ I ever played, beginning in 1946. The contract for Pilcher Opus 624 was signed in August 1908, for a two-manual organ of sixteen sets (ranks) of pipes, at a cost of $3,000. It was originally pumped by a hydraulic (water) motor and could be pumped by hand in case of emergency. The church was called St. Mark’s Methodist when the organ was pur-chased. It was moved into the present Oak Cliff Methodist building in 1915, where it served without major changes until 1952. In that year the action was electrified and a new console was installed so that the organist no longer had to sit high above and behind the choir. A third console was installed in 2000 – a three-manual to accommodate enlarge-ment of the organ.

My teacher, Mrs. Forrest T. (Maud Hendrix) Reed, was the organist from 1918-1948. Peggy (O’Neal) Coke played for ten years, and I played from the fall of 1961 until the fall of 1967. The Rev. Richard D. Howell served as minister of music for about thirty years.

In 1910 a Pilcher organ was purchased for the chapel at St. Mary’s Episcopal College. It had four-teen ranks of pipes and also cost $3,000. It was moved to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church on South Harwood Street, where it served until the church relocated and the old building was razed.

Christ Episcopal Church in Oak Cliff installed a two-manual Pilcher of nine ranks in 1921. A well-known Dallasite who played at Christ Church was Miss Alice Knox Fergusson, who was organist and choirmaster 1926-1960. This organ was replaced in 1973 by a Janke organ.

St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral obtained a three-manual Pilcher organ in 1923. It was moved to St. Mary’s Chapel when the Cathedral moved from Ervay and Canton Streets to the Ross Avenue campus. Two organists there were Dr. Carl Wiese-mann and Henry W. Sanderson.

East Dallas Christian Church installed a three-manual Pilcher about 1925. Two of the organists were Mrs. E.R. Brooke and Dr. A. Eugene Ells-worth. This organ was replaced several years ago by the Schudi Organ Co. of Dallas.

My favorite and the largest, of the Dallas Pilchers, was the four-manual Owens Memorial Organ in-stalled at First Methodist Church in 1926, at a cost of $25,000. Two organists played that instrument for all but the first few years of its life, Mrs. Sidney G. (Margaret Hughston) Terry and Mrs. Elizabeth Soderstrom. I was allowed to play it once for a youth meeting on a freezing cold winter night. One of the exciting musical moments that I remember oc-curred there. During my high school years, I usually went to First Methodist to hear Handel’s “Messiah” at Christmastime. During the singing of “For Unto Us A Child Is Born,” it was always a thrill when the full organ joined the choir and orchestra on the words “Wonderful! Counselor! The Mighty God!”. Some changes were made to the organ by the McManis Organ Company; then it was mostly re-placed by Harvey and Zimmer of Dallas.

Highland Park Methodist Church’s first organ was a three-manual Pilcher of 1927, with about thirty ranks of pipes. The first organist was Mrs. Ellis W. Shuler. In later years organists were Hugh Waddill, Dora (Barclay) Poteet, and V. Earle Copes. Phillip E. Baker was the organist when the church pur-chased an Aeolian-Skinner in 1954. The Pilcher or-gan was moved to the spacious music room that had been added to the Eugene McElvaney home. William Redmond installed it in two large cham-bers, with a new console and new tremolos.

1930 saw Pilchers installed at Greenville Avenue Christian Church, the Buckner Orphanage Chapel, and Lamar and Smith Funeral Home. I played at Greenville Avenue from October 1967 until Janu-ary 1971. Unfortunately, the organ was left in the building after the congregation disbanded. It was vandalized and then whatever was left burned with the vacant building.

The last Pilcher organ placed in Dallas was in Holy Trinity Catholic Church, about 1938-1939. It is a three-manual organ of about twenty-five ranks. I was allowed to play it for a wedding in 1953 and enjoyed the experience.

Three Pilcher organs from other places found sec-ond homes in the Dallas area. Our Redeemer Lu-theran Church purchased a two-manual instru-ment from one of the merged Presbyterian churches in Corsicana and had it installed by Gerard Laval-lee in their Preston Center building in 1955. A new Trumpet and Clarion were added at that time. It was replaced by the Boettcher firm when a new church was built.

R.M. (Mac) Range installed a Pilcher, with some additions, in the Second Church of Christ, Scientist in 1979-1980, and the First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster purchased and installed a used Pilcher in 1927. I am not aware of the original locations of these two organs.